smith on his group, the , which hascibles been encouraging ♪ host: it has been a busy week here in washington. here are some of the issues that we have been cussing all week. the house and senate budget conferees held their first formal meeting. secretary sebelius testified before congress on healthcare.gov. nsa officials testified as well on their spying programs. the farm bill conferees have begin negotiations. what is your top story this week? we will go through the papers on "washington journal." we want to know what you think

the most important story is. , numbers on your phone. us on social media or leave a comment on our twitter feed. make a comment on our facebook page. address --r e-mail our lead story in the washington post is restrained nsa. mounting revelations about the extent of federal surveillance. push forving her a new significant legislative action from an industry that long tried to stay above the fray in washington. after months of calling for the government to be more transparent about its surveillance programs, tech leaders have begun demanding substantial new restraints on the national security agenc y's collection of information

across the globe. the pivot marks and aggressive new posture -- marks and aggressive new posture. attentionvoting more to blunting potentially damaging actions and pushing initiatives that may prove conserve urschel -- controversial. companies sentt a letter to senate leaders on thursday. he reflected the sharpening industry strategy. they created a privacy advocate to represent civil liberty the secretive in court that oversees the nsa. transparency is a critical first step to informed public debate. it is clear that more needs to be done, says the letter. it was sent to the chair of the judiciary committee. thatompanies believe

government for sale -- first -- practices should be reformed to include substantial enhancements to provide -- to privacy. this is the lead story in the washington post today. here's the lead story in the washington times. health care woes have democrats feeling anxious. they are already under fierce attack from republicans over the health care laws. obama now faces democratic concerns that the troubled start of the insurance program will cut into the political benefits that the party received from the government shutdown and might cost government -- democratic candidates in the next elections. was named asgh most responsible. to fix it entrusted was jeffrey zeitz.

this followed a meeting between vice president joe biden and democratic freshmen. it appeared that the white house would have to do more to reassure democrats who emerged from the shutdown confident of their political fortunes. onublicans have roared back a wave of anger over the health care law. people are anxious. richard derman said -- richard durbin said he did not think there was confidence. this is more of a show me moment. we were all confident that the system would be up and running. we are not confident until it is real. the anxious include senators and house members facing hotly contested races. inre are also lawmakers

states with republican governors who have done nothing to promote the health care law. this is the lead story in the new york times this morning. what is your top story this week? we will begin with a democrat in tennessee. diane, what do you think the big story of the week is? about theam concerned reform bill. we have senators have been taking money and enriching themselves. when it comes down to the average person, they want to take it away. this needs to be looked into. with thising about -- bill, they have to give it a chance to work. just like with cable bills, we have cable bills here. every now and then our cable goes out. everybody's cable goes out. it is a problem with the system and they tell us to hold on and it will get fixed.

it takes time. with these republicans doing everything they can to talk about health care, they are trying to take away from the jobs that we need. we need jobs. thank you very much. host: thank you for calling in. the president was in boston talking about the health care website. >> right now the website is too slow. too many people have gotten stuck and i am not happy about it. neither are a lot of americans who need health care. they are trying to figure out how to sign up as quickly as possible. there is no excuse for it. full responsibility for making sure it gets fixed as soon as possible. we are working overtime to improve it every day. if you had one of the substandard plans before the affordable care act became law, and you really liked that plan, you are able to keep it. that is what i said when i was

running for office. that was part of the promise that we made. the law was passed, if insurers decided to downgrade plans,el the substandard we said that you have to replace them with quality comprehensive coverage. that too was a central premise of the affordable care act from the very beginning. promise means that every plan in the marketplace covers a core set of minimum benefits. allergies orse pregnancy or sports injury or the fact they were a woman to charge you more. [applause] and from the washington times this morning, millions are losing employer insurance. -- the whiterity house did not rule out on thursday the possibility that

millions of workers could lose the current employer-based health insurance under obamacare. -- despitebama's president obama's assurance, people would need to shop for new coverage. that is the latest caveat. with more than 2 million people receiving cancellation notices ors, their insuranc white house hedged on that promise. they said that the vast majority of people could keep their plans under obamacare. the president says that the only people forced to shop for new plans are the roughly five percent of americans who do not get coverage through their employer. derek on our independent line, what is the big story in your view? caller: i was thinking about touching on nsa. speak onring obama

health care, i think i would rather talk about that. this health-care debacle is just a mess. ok? president obama lied to us. he lied to us. cameraed us all in the consistently over and over again. he told us that we would not be affected. we would be able to keep our doctors. he told us consistently. it is not true. we all know that politicians lie. obama is not any different. he lied to us. this is once again government growing and getting bigger and bigger. becausestice heartening -- disheartening, because as an informed citizen, i am starting to lose hope. it is disgusting. we need to do better. host: thank you, derek.

i forgot where he called from already. it disappeared from ice cream, so i cannot tell you. from the washington post this morning, medicare topps plans in tallies of new sign-ups. take rush of people are applying for an expansion of medicaid. there's a trickle of sign-ups for new insurance. the survey of ballots found that nine out of 10 enrollees and medicaid have taken some experts by surprise. the affordable care act covered millions of the poorest americans who could not afford insurance. there was a more even split with a robust private market. when we first told the numbers, everyone's eyes bugged out. of the people walking through the door, 90% are on medicaid. what planet is this happening on? in theve a chart washington post about this.

it shows some states and the difference in the sign-ups. maryland, 82,004 hundred 73 people signed up for medicaid while 3186 have signed up for the private insurance plans. you can see the charts go through here. here is washington state. linda, mississippi, democratic line. good morning. what is your top story of the week? caller: affordable health care. host: all right. caller: i think it is going to be all right. i have worked all of my life without affordable health care. i could not afford it and worked every day. it is not just the website. people are so used to using a website. use the phone. go and do it manually.

that is how we used to do it before. the website will be fixed. mefar as the person before who was saying that obama has have beenrepublicans lying every day all day long. youd with the president -- cannot get something if you do not fight for it. americans need this health-care and we need to stand up and fight. we're being told lies by the republicans. we are americans. and is not just democratic republican. host: thank you. kathleen sebelius was on capitol hill this week. here is a portion. >> in these early weeks, access to healthcare.gov has been a miserably frustrating experience for many americans. this includes many who have waited years, in some cases their entire lives, for the

protection of health insurance. i am as frustrated as anyone with the flop launch of healthcare.gov. let me say directly to these americans, you deserve at her. i apologize. you forountable to fixing these problems. i'm committed to earning your confidence back to fixing the site. night andking day and we will continue until it is fixed. host: and from the washington times this morning, the senate panel imposes new restrictions. the committee voted thursday to officially conduct term the nsa's ability to collect information. it imposes new restrictions on federal authorities who want to sift through the data. the 11-4 vote marks the first time that any part of congress has approved table records collection. that was a closely held secret until edward snowden leaked

details earlier this year and ignited a fierce public debate over the extent of nsa snooping. under the bill, written by diane feinstein, they can continue collecting and snooping as they have. they will now need congressional approval. they will need to determine whether the snooping reduces any leads. run when ars can be terrorist target called an american phone number. this protects the country, according to mrs. feinstein. i do not believe this is an imposition on people's privacy rights. diana is calling from call for now. -- california. independent line. caller: health care and how badly it was rolled out. lied to us.ey'd

they told us that this was going to be great for everyone. people are losing their health care. people have not apologized. going around is saying how great everything is. he is not out here. he is in his bubble in washington. he does not understand why people are suffering out here. we are not just suffering because of the health care law, we are suffering because of his economical stuff that he has rolled out that has made it tough for people to hold their jobs. i have been laid off twice in the last four years. because of all of the mess and people not hiring -- he does not understand, they are insulated up there in a bubble and they are not looking at what how

people -- at how people are suffering out here. i do not think they care. host: from our facebook page, here are a couple of comments. one of the top stories is how the gop and tea party cut food stamps. linda says that obamacare is a top story -- the deceptions and lies. albert says the boston red sox and fenway park. stillys evil republicans trying to deny people health care. says $17 trillion -- the u.s. national debt. those are the top stories on our facebook page. from the wall street journal, to obama nominees have been blocked.

prospect of the broader fight over nominations. it could poison relations and shut down relations in the chamber. nominees werea selected to oversee the agencies over fannie mae and freddie mac. they failed to clear procedural hurdles back to back -- in back- to-back votes. they failed to advance. angerp opposition democrats who are considering to blockew steps to republican confirmation votes. rules are arcane, but highly sensitive. musclesy can flex its by requiring a certain number of votes. this requires only a simple majority. from the front page of the new york times, in shadows, hintz of

life for hints of a snowden. this is in moscow. is living in an secret garden residence -- guarded residence in russia. he is always protected. he is learning the language and reading. "crime and finished punishment. " accompanying him is sarah harrison, a british activist with wikileaks. she far less attention, appears to have found herself trapped in the same limbo of temporary asylum. a journalist who has written extensively about the security services, said that the fsb clearly controlled the circumstances of mr. snowden's

life now. they protect him and circumscribe his activities, even if they do not directly control him. he is actually surrounded by these people who wrote a history of the new russian security services, the new nobility. this article in the new york times goes on to say that a hint nonetheless is out of the public. he has agreed to take a job with one of the country's major internet companies beginning on friday. his lawyer would not disclose the company or the details. he declined to discuss mr. snowden's life in exile. the number of threats is still very high. he says in a phone interview that the possibility that mr. snowden might work openly and moscow could not be verified. in theory, it might be allowed.

some doubted the notion given his desire to keep a low profile. other claims about his turkish his life and moscow, his whereabouts, even his dating are of substantiated -- unsubstantiated. , who visited him recently, said he was working to try to normalize his life. the study had no interest in writing -- the study said he has no interest in writing a book. of his son would begin working. this week, the intelligence committee held a study on the programs that came to light due to mr. snowden's relations. the house intelligence committee chair had an exchange with james clapper and keith ellington. >> that is correct. those screenshots lead people to believe that week, the nsa, or

the united states, collected those informations. that is false. collected on european citizens. poor,as created inaccurate reporting. >> this is something that we are going to have to deal with here in the future. i am glad that you clarify that. mr. clapper, i will ask you this, given the recent row about orders and numbers that may may not have been in possession of u.s. intelligence services. way to thend its white house? >> it certainly could. i would rather not speak specifically. speaking in totality, clearly the leadership intentions are an

of thent dimension landscape out there for all policymakers. history -- given the likelihood that the house intelligence committee was aware of information that may be of logically --'t it when the administration have access to that information? >> i mentioned earlier in my description that they may not have information specifically related to a specific selector or any specific collection target. what they would see is the output in its total dimension. >> we are dancing around the bush. i can imagine that there were specific outputs on any of that. we're almost talking hypothetically. it would certainly be a trained

professional who would understand that the intelligence services were within the framework. is that correct? >> yes. fax your calls. what is the top story that for you this week? caller: definitely health care. i have been a nurse and i have seen the whole gambit. people receive good care in the united states. i think that what is alarming to me is a couple of statements that were made by the ministration. -- the administration. not only would you keep your insurance, but you would not have to pay more. we are living in an inflated economy. we pay the ultimate price for everything. , he is no guarantee

guaranteeing against president obama that we will have health care and we will retain our health care. aveat not giving the cop that the prices will go up. that is what people are seeing. there's no way to budget your own life. corporations are able to budget. that is presenting fear to us who do have a business supporting our health care cost. where is our confidence to know that we can even afford something as important as health care? i would like to hear the president explain again that there will not be a crisis in health care. virginia.ksburg, independent mind. about ai'm calling story that was largely overlooked here in america, but covered in the guardian. that is that congressman alan grayson convened a hearing.

our government could hear from the people who were killed by drones. they're dropped with our money and in our name. case, they heard from a family of a 57-year-old woman who was out looking -- out picking okra. a terrorist. she was killed by an american drone. the international released a story this week stating the roughly 900 people have been killed by drones. they were made with american money and dropped in the name of our country. roughly 200 of those are children. i think it is really telling that so few congressman attend that hearing. our media failed to bring us the information about what is being done. i think it is important to take a look at this. for calling in. stephen in spartanburg, south carolina.

democrat calling in. caller: i want to talk about health care. thingsto know why these were discussed. they know that any computer can be overloaded with so many people. insurance --get why are they not understanding? if a lot of people want it, the computer is overloaded. why don't people understand that? host: thank you for calling in. newspapers are reporting that obama considered replacing biden on the 2012 ticket. considered replacing him with hillary clinton. the election outlook appeared uncertain. despite mrs. clinton's popularity, the move would not have offered enough of a boost

to justify such a radical move. that is according to a newly published account. the idea of replacing mr. biden has long been rumored. it is discussed in the new book "double down." it was pushed by the chief of staff at the time. despite the close personal biden, with mr. when the research came back at the end of the year, it suggested that adding clinton to the ticket would not material ly improve mr. obama's odds. biden dodged a bullet that he never saw coming. he would never know anything about it if the obama's could keep a secret. it was acknowledged that he wanted to research what the move would have meant for mr. obama,

his popularity in 2011 was at its lowest state. he said this was due diligence. i was vocal about looking into a whole bunch of things and this was one of them. you have to remember that the president was in awful shape. we were wondering what to do. ashland, ohio. republican line. what is your story? caller: health care. host: ok. . health care. caller: my daughter is dating a guy who has a couple of shops. he has been going to business meetings. he even went to see the president. he is having a hard time figuring out the health care. how much will it cost to employees? now you have to -- you have to

find out what to do. what do employers do? what else is coming down the pike? how many taxes are in there? nice that it is covering people, but when will it -- what is it going to cost us? i think that americans really want to know and it is not out there in black-and-white. you should be able to look and see. there are a lot of important things that have been done wrong. the president has lied to us. thank you. host: a little bit more about the book "double down." it is just coming out. even after obama named hillary clinton as secretary of state, finding their wounds, he could

barely endure spending time with the clinton. he rarely contacted his democratic predecessor in the years after taking office. after midterm losses for his party, the incumbent and his inner circle realized that they still needed the popular mr. clinton. they golfed together in 2011 in an effort to get closer together. they did not even finish 18 holes. r. obama succinctly expressed his view of mr. clinton saying that he liked him in doses. to thema, who is known test campaign donor nations said that he could not name his top five vendors. he says he has no idea.

after meeting with a liberal billionaire, a major donor, the president said that he would never sit with him again if he did not get anything out of him. the authors reveal the source who told senator reid of nevada, the majority leader, that mr. romney had not paid taxes in 10 years. what do you think is the top story this week? caller: i want to talk about health care. it is not very popular. i think that we should go with a single pair. yer. obamacare ork that the affordable care act goes far enough. all americans have the right to health care. if that makes me a socialist, then i will probably be a socialist. we cannot compare health care to car insurance. i think that most people need

insurance. those people that do not want to be a single payer should have a choice. i do think that -- i am one of those people that think that the health care act does not go far enough. say is what i would like to about health care. i think everybody deserves to have health care. host: thank you. there is more, security help for a rock. iraq. they will press president obama to step up assistance. they are headed back to levels not seen in years. on thursday, he said that he needs significantly more help from the u.s.

they need more weapons and theter sharing to stem bloodshed that has left a rocky civilians dead this year. murphysboro, tennessee. caller: how are you doing? host: good. caller: i want to talk about the health care issue. inking that everyone deserves health care -- they do. i am an individual who does not have health insurance right now. for wentny that i work into bankruptcy. i could not have cobra anymore. there were no funds in the company to allow me to have insurance. i am waiting for things to get worked around. i am trying to get online and have not been successful. i am sure i will be. the one lady who talked about president obama being in his own

world in the white house -- one of the main reasons he wanted to do obamacare was because of his mother's illness. she had cancer and was sick and passed away. she did not have sufficient insurance. he does not want that to happen to anybody else. i do not either. host: thank you. a couple of other twitter comments we have gotten. week isest story of the the party of me and wanting to cut $40 billion out of food stamps. big story is the cut and snap benefits. another says that a good story is the lois lerner story. another tweet says that congress

will only work 113 days in d.c. next year. they have just released their calendar. story isthat the top the marketplace and rolled six people on the first day. he is talking about the story last night. finally, another tweet about food stamps. cutting food stamps is nothing short of deliberate cruelty. with the health care meeting, a republican of tennessee had a chat with kathleen sebelius. >> what did you say to nbc news? millions will lose their curren -- coverage. >> the press corps is here today. i think that is as important to be accurate about what is going on. i would defer to the president.

they will have ongoing coverage and be offered new plants. >> let me tell you something. >> the market will -- >> what do you say to someone in my district who had a plan and liked it. it was affordable and now it is being terminated. now they do not have health insurance. companiesce cap -- cancel plans year in and year out. they are not lifetime plans. >> let me move on. they wanted. i will remind you that some people like to drive a ford and not a ferrari. you are taking away their choice. host: louisiana on a republican line. what is the top story for you this week? caller: good morning. how are you doing? excuse my language, i just woke up.

-- situation in the country i think that when the president took office, this country was in a depression. he left it in a great state. the auto industry and the banks, now we see this affordable care. it is not obamacare. the republicans named it obamacare. being a republican, i like to billion that this wentry is in debt over -- should have a class action suit against the tea party and their --lican party to find out they are talking about hell obamacare -- they are talking about obamacare and other topics. we should find out about this money that we have lost.

no one has said anything about it. you know what $34 billion could do? party and my party responsible for the money that you could put into the country. host: thank you. vicki and indiana. independent. caller: yes. this is vicki. i just wanted to know. you hear all of these people who say that there had -- their insurance has been cut. have a read their policies? do they know whether they are covered for catastrophic insurance? i have cancer now. i am actively taking chemo. i could not get insurance because i had a pre-existing condition before. i had cancer 16 years ago. all of these people, before they

complain that insurance companies are dropping them, have they read the policy? also, the president is the president. you need to respect him, i do not care who he is. i did not vote for him and i would not have. i do think that he deserves the respect of his office. paul from politico, rant urges caution. thatid thursday night republicans should be more cautious in attributing sources. politico confronted the senator's office with fresh examples of his speeches that borrowed language without citing original text. staff with his multiple instances where he had used the language nearly verbatim that had first appeared

elsewhere. he faced questions of plagiarism for lifting language in a speech from a wikipedia entry. the potential 2016 candidate dismissed the report from msnbc. buzz feed also reported on tuesday that paul had taken language from a wikipedia entry on another movie. this was a speech responding to president barack obama's state of the union address. that was politico this morning. priorityy's and republicans are having a growing impact on rulings. the number of full-time federal judges named by democratic even today from the

number named by republicans, following two retirements. the balance will be tilted in the democratic favor. that will grow further major of his turn. -- term. what is on your mind this morning? about ted concern is cruz. his father was talking about president obama being sent back to chicago and or kenya. my question is whether or not citizenan born american has denounced his citizenship to canada? i did not hear anything about him becoming an them naturalized -- becoming a naturalized american citizen.

thank you very much for taking my call. host: thank you for calling in. the vatican has surveyed parishes on gays and sexual issues. they're taking the unusual step of conducting a worldwide howice -- survey on parishes deal with sensitive issues like birth control, divorce, and gay marriage. the poll was sent in mid-october to every national conference of bishops with a request from the vatican coordinator. it was to be shared immediately and as widely as possible. among the questions of how priests minister to same-sex couples. also, how they respond when gays seek a religious education or communion for children. soughtormation was also on pastoral care of men and women who live together outside

of marriage. the national catholic reporter broke the story on thursday and posted a copy online. michael is in miamisburg, ohio. republican line, what is the top story for you? -- i hit the wrong button. independent line. caller: hello. thank you very much. receiverld you put the up? it is hard to hear you? caller: sure. host: thank you. caller: can you hear me now? is abouttory for me health insurance and getting sick erie it i think a lot of debate is making people sick. they're worried about their health now. this will make them anxious and more prone to disease. the only solution is to try not to get sick.

that is all an individual can do. avoid accidents in dangerous situations. -- a lote i am smoking of people know what to do. i would stay away from doctors if i could. when i go to the doctor, he has all of this fancy equipment. 30 years ago, they did not have all that stuff. we are able to be healed. host: all right. front page of the washington times this morning, serious becomes the largest home to al qaeda is the headline. syria destroys its chemical weapons factories. they destroyed chemical weapons production capabilities. a watchdog said that they surprised experts by completing this on schedule. the disarmament process was called for by the un security

council. now, michael, republican line. caller: how are you doing? my top story is the health care law. i would love to say -- i am a republican and i hate the way that they have put this long to affect. it is here now. the only way this health law is going to work is to get the unemployment down below four percent. that is all i have to say. host: all right. front page of the wall street journal -- there is an article on chris christie. his election is coming up this next tuesday. his reelection campaign ends this next tuesday. the strategy emerges as he crisscrosses new jersey in his final campaign push. chris christie has made clear to donors and top supporters that

he wants to do more than just not a big reelection when next tuesday. he sees his campaign as an aggressive outreach to non-gop voters. he is a model for his party. he is winning out right among hispanics as polls suggest that he may. thes leading the way as party struggles to widen its appeal. kristi would have a strong case starting next week that his appeal among all types of mayor -- of americans establishes him as an instant republican front- runner for 2016. finally, we will hear from william in evan still, iowa. democratic line. what is the topic for you? caller: health care. marsha blackburn was on tv

talking about kathleen sebelius. to makehey decide not changes? are you going to answer the question? caller: what question? host: the question you just asked. caller: i just think that the republicans are ridiculous. i want to say one more thing. you do not do the news right. --t gingrich did something al gore had to go through this. republicans did nothing then either. they sit on their hands and do nothing. host: that is william in iowa. thank you for calling in. here's the front page of bloomberg businessweek magazine. crashed. one year and one epic fail into his second term. obama needs to reboot.

that is the cover story for bloomberg. how the ipod president crashed. his advisers talked of their belief that it was time for an ipod government. obama is a technology addict. he checks his ipad before going to sleep. he fought the u.s. secret service bureaucracy for the right. smartphone. he is the first president truly at home in the digital age. that put him in a unique position to pull the federal government into the digital age two. he would restore america's faith in the public sector to do things well. after he got to the white house, he tried to deliver on his promise. effortrked on a massive to open up government data. he set up an online dashboard for transparency on i.t.. he was over budget and off

schedule. this provides the name, e-mail, and phone number. to date, the site has gotten 78 million hits. to obama, this is part of the core work of rescuing the idea that government can solve core problems. afforded because of the technological -- thwarted because technology has not reached parts of our government. thatpeople will tell you their kids have better technology in their backpacks and bedrooms than they have in their desks at work. the online portal was supposed to be the lynch pin of the affordable care act. it has sent a devastating blow to the administration. morning, we have three washington journal guest.

s. smith,up next is aaron the leader of a group called the young invincible's. then we will have someone from california to talk about immigration. pardon me. weekends,w, on the "book tv" is on c-span two. will be featuring helena, montana. we have local content. we go on the road and visit with cities throughout the nation and learn the literary history. you will see those segments this weekend on "book tv" and tv." here istory

a portion. citiess one of the few on our preconceived the spires of the cathedral and not have people fighting with each other. cathedralres of the and minarets and not have people fighting with each other between the two places. government. people understand and appreciate what government can do and cannot do. they know what it does well and what it does not do well. we have a lot of young families and people who love to mountain bike and ski or walk on trails. they kayak in the summer. it is a very active population. the biggest of expansion of this town since the statehood in 1889 -- we have

struggled over these last 10 or 15 years to maintain the quality of life in small-town feeling and intimacy that people have around here. it is a. of growth and expansion -- it is a period of growth and expansion. i think what we have really been trying to do is maintain our quality of life. this is a great place to come and visit, winter or summer. it is a great place to raise a family and have children. i hope that maybe some of your viewers will come and see us. " washington journal," continues. smith,elcome to aaron who is the founder of a group called young invincibles. what is that? guest: we're focused on young

adults. we focus on health care, employment, higher education -- core economic issues affecting our generation. did you come to found such an organization? thet: i'm one of cofounders. we started this group back in 2009 in the midst of the health care debate. we're still talking about this today. we wanted to make sure the young people had a voice not process. there are 19 million uninsured jump people in this country. more than any other age group. for the most part, there's a perception that young people do not care. the name of our group is to help industry term. we think that we are invincible. we know that it is hard to get a job out there. particularly for young people. insurance was to expect -- expensive. we started this little group and never anticipated that it would become a full-time job. toorew and we started not

far from here at georgetown law school. we have been working on this ever since. host: how are you funded? guest: almost entirely foundation funding. areissue areas -- there foundations that support us. host: when it comes to health care, what is your position? guest: we were supportive of the affordable care act. there are 19 million uninsured young people. this is particularly true in low income populations. the median income is under $17,000 per year. it makes sense when you think about who is young and uninsured. many are working low-wage jobs that do not provide benefits. many are unemployed. this is a population that really stands to benefit enormously from the new coverage provisions and the new law. that was one of the big reasons that we supported it.

we were one of the earliest supporters of the law that allows you to stand her parents plan up to 26. that has helped 3 million uninsured young people. host: how do you get your health care? guest: through my employer. host: so you had to set up a health care plan, correct? guest: we are fiscally sponsored. we had to choose a health care plan. host: what does that mean? means there's a bigger nonprofit that houses us and provide admin support. host: and what is that? guest: center for community change. host: from the guardian newspaper in london -- obama's biggest problem is that young people are not signing up. guest: it is too early to tell. we are hopeful. is theachusetts, which closest analogy to what we have here, the and insurance rates for young people went from 25%.

it is a dramatic increase. we know that when you talk to uninsured young people, they really do want health insurance. as long as it is affordable. that is where the premiums really do matter. year, make $17,000 per you could find a plan for $15 per month. even less in some cases. that affordability will make a difference. we have a real job to do to educate young people. ofy do not have a ton information about how this law works. they need to know how the subsidies work and what is the new mandate. we have until march 31 to get that word out and make sure that everyone signs up. host: we have set aside our fourth line this morning for those who are 18 to 34. that number is on your screen.

we would like to hear your view. have you gone on the health care website and attempted to sign up? guest: yes, i have. host: what was your experience? was mixed. i found that it improved over time. i was able to go on and check out my options and see how much insurance might cost. the rates were very good. the interesting thing is that there are so many options. it is not as easy as saying i will distill and and find a plan. there are dozens of plants. which is the right plan for me? that is where a lot of young people are going to posit and think about what is the best fit. i am not too concerned about enrollment in this first month. it is a long-term process. we saw this in massachusetts where the first couple of months were just feeling out and discovering what the site is all about. closer to the deadline, that is when the actual enrollment will happen. that theyou think

administration has done enough to educate young people about what is available? why -- and why it is important? guest: they have made efforts, we need to do more. we talk to young people every day. the difference between obamacare and the affordable care act? things like that are not necessarily translating to young people on the ground. what is a deductible? these tax credits -- does that mean i will have to pay the full price up to run and wait for my refund on the road? you can pay the reduced price right away. things like that are very important for young people to understand. i think that we have a long way to go. not just for young people, but for all americans, to understand how this works. host: what is the difference between obamacare and the aca? guest: there is not a difference. the term perception,

obamacare has become a political hot potato. there was a funny segment on the other night where people were much more supportive of the affordable care act and they were of obamacare. one of the things we're trying to do is take the politics out of this. these are the facts. you will make the best economic decision for you and your family. we are happy to walk you through your different options. you should make the choice. host: i have to ask, how old are you? guest: i am 31. host: you have quite a resume already. you are the campaign manager for a state representative in yonkers. college -- have you graduated from georgetown line yet? guest: yes. host: what else do you plan on doing. guest: i am excited about the potential to have a very powerful youth boys here.

here.th voice we are starting to add a more regional presence. we have offices in california and houston and new york. i think that there are things that you can get done at the local level in terms of the policies that impact our generation. we work a lot we work on higher education, for example. a lot of the issues are being driven by state and local factors. hopefully, we can have more of an impact there. host: aaron smith is part of the generation that had technology in the crib. what do you think of the use of technology when it came to healthcare.gov? troublethe website had -- guest: the website had trouble from the beginning, and it was apparent to everyone,

particularly young people. i will say the website has improved almost every single day. the majority of users are able to see their options. the one thing i point out is this is not a fad, buying the latest pair of jeans or ipad. this is something people need. health insurance is something 19 million people have gone without. we find a lot of patience. check back in a week, or a month. it will take time to figure this out anyway. many is more patients than in the media are reporting on. oft: aaron smith, cofounder young invincibles is our guest. tony, oakland, california. democrat.

caller: good morning. talk about aaron smith and his knowledge of health care. people really need to know it is not obamacare. it is affordable care. playing politics and get down to the grassroots of knowing what it is, and what it would do for them, work together as a nation, get the politics out of health care and let people come together and see it for what it is and educate themselves on the affordable care act, then they will really get something out of it. it will really help the nation. i appreciate you, aaron smith. keep up the good work. you're doing a great job. guest: thank you.

agree with you. i would add that a great example of the role of politics in this whole debate is medicaid. there is this huge potential to expand medicaid that would enroll the lowest income americans, in some states have done it, but many have not heard -- have not. if texas were to expand medicaid, one million young people could potentially gain coverage. nationally, 5 million people will not gain coverage because of states not extending medicaid. that is just unfair. the people that need it the most in some states are not getting it, and it is being driven by politics. in -- would the affordable care act or obamacare

be affordable without subsidies? guest: i do not think you can separate the two. were put ins because insurance was too expensive. it used to be the situation where in some states or counties you would have one insurance plan to choose from. there is no competition there. is idea of a marketplace insurance companies will compete for your dollar, and that, over time will bring down prices. we need to subsidies at first to ensure that lower income americans can get an affordable price right away. host: cornelia in cottonwood, idaho, good morning. caller: good morning. hopefully i am prepared. i did not expect to get in when i called in. i am just wondering if this young man -- he seems like a very nice young man -- i am

wondering several things. mainly, is he being paid anything at all from the democratic national committee, or anything like that? all from the democratic nationalmy main conco put out there is the control irs will have over our individual lives because they will have access to our personal accounts, and we know the problems with irs that we could be faced with. the other thing -- a couple more things -- forcing individuals and religious institutions to go against their conscience and provide for contraception's and -- contraception and even abortion. abortion will increase under this so-called health care. host: we have four issues. we will have aaron smith answer them all. beginning with the dnc -- do you

have a relationship. guest: no. we are nonprofit, we do not receive over time will bring down prices. we need to subsidies at first to ensure that lower income americans can get an affordable price right away. funding, and we do not have any relationship. host: do you consider yourself liberal? guest: i personally consider myself aggressive. progressive is the more modern term. there are things we have been critical of the administration and the health-care law on. our main goal is to advance and bring it a voice to young people. health care is one area where we have made steps forward. student loans and the cost of college is an area where neither political party advanced, or youth unemployment. it is twice the national average, and what are we doing to address that? i think there are problems on

the both son -- on both sides. there were a number of other issues. host: irs? guest: just to explain how that works, when you go on to healthcare.gov, which i encourage people to do, in order to see if you qualify for subsidies, they have to check against your income. they run the data through irs to determine that. or unusualthing new about that. we all pay taxes. we are all connected to the irs in some way. from everything that i have heard, the privacy is actually very strong through healthcare.gov. so, it has not been a huge area of concern. another point to respond on, birth control -- that is an area that i think young people

particularly were excited about -- the idea that you could get preventive care, including birth control, with no co-pays, it is a huge benefit to young people, and particularly young women. having gone to a school like georgetown that had an issue time, wherer a long it was actually providing it for the faculty, a lot of young people have just said that is fair. in this country it is an important benefit for women's health. the fourth issue she brought up was the deficit and aca may contribute. guest: the cbo scored that it would actually decrease the deficit. this law, if anything, reduces the deficit or is budget neutral. one of the ideas behind the law

is we are going to bring health- care cost under control. we have seen the increase of health care costs start to decline, which is a good sign. that is a huge issue. unless we can stop premiums and costs generally from going up, five percent, 6%, seven percent, every year, we will have spiraling costs. >> do you think social security -- host: aaron smith, do you think social security will be around by the time you get to a retirement age? guest: i am hopeful. i think it will be. it is something that has been a red rock in this country. it is something my parents and grandparents relied on. it is something we are all paying into. so far, i have seen a lot of support, actually, and a lot of opposition to attempts to roll that back. when we have talked to young

people about social security -- you definitely hear this skepticism about whether it will be around, but we also find high for programsport that support the neediest in our society. host: young invincibles.org is the website. on "washington journal." caller: i have a comment and a question to asking. aca, orook at obamacare, it looks like it is the mandatory redistribution of health care insurance costs, and not only that, it is a redistribution of health care because what is happening now is the working middle class that are being forced onto the exchanges are going to have to not have as much care for their own families as they are used to

because we will have to pick up the cost for people who are not paying into the system. you answer the question that you are a progressive. it is not a new term. it comes from woodrow wilson. also, the center for community progress, that was my original question, whether that was a progressive organization or not. before i hangup -- you talked about the cost. some places only have one insurance company. however, president obama has said he wants to eliminate the insurance companies -- it will wee 15, 20 years -- then will be in a one-payer system, said than the cost will automatically go up under those circumstances, the quality will go down, and we will have no alternatives to go to. let me stop there. host: all right, jeanne.

thank you for calling in. aaron smith, your response. there are two issues. the impact on the middle class -- the biggest reason we did the affordable care act was there was a huge problem with the health-care system or we were spending more money and getting less than almost every other country in the world, and we were paying for uninsured people because uninsured people were going to the emergency room and getting uncompensated care, which basically meant that our tax dollars were going to cover that in the least efficient way possible. it is not efficient for people to not go see a doctor and then things spiral out of control, and you have to go to an emergency room. furthermore, there were 50 more -- 15 million more uninsured people in the -- 15 million more uninsured people, the majority insurance.e to get

i think it is a huge boom for the middle class, not to mention for young people interested in starting a business or going off on their own to start their own business -- the idea that you have health insurance and you are not stuck with your job, it has a huge potential economic impact that will help middle- class americans. that is very important. -- as iher points mentioned, we are officially with -- sponsored with the center for community change, which is nonpartisan, nonprofit, and works on a range of issues. i suggest you check out their website. what was the last point? host: you have covered a lot, mr. smith. s in, young tweet man, when are you going to thank

you -- say thank you to me for paying the taxes that makes this such a deal for you? guest: thank you. we all pay taxes. everyone deserves an education is something that is essentially funded by tax dollars, and so is our military. everyone is contributing to the system. host: that was mr. beatty's opinion, now mitch daniels, former governor of indiana, and now president of perdue university is quoted in "the christian science monitor" as saying it is a raw deal for the young. he said premiums will go up for young people to subsidize the elders.

guest: i think his facts are wrong. if you look at the numbers that are coming out, they are actually lower than anticipated. again, if you make $17,000 a year, you are a young person, you can find a plan for $15 a month, $40 a month, and potentially less. if you make $25,000 a year, you might find a plan for $75 a month, $100 a month. the uninsured single, young adult population would qualify for insurance under $50 a month. fail to those studies take into account the subsidies which disproportionately help people at the lower end of the economic spectrum, which happens to be a lot of young people. host: well, the penalties for the uninsured in 2014 -- next

year it will be $95 per adult, or one percent of family income, whichever is lower. 3 hundred $25 per adult, in2% of income, and finally 2016, 600 $95 per adult, or 2.5% of family income. the think those are fair? guest: it is important to have a system where everybody pays in. you do not want a system where i do not protect myself, do not protect my family, and when something bad happens, i go to the emergency room and run up tens and tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. the system works, insurance works, when everybody is part of the system. it is risk pooling. in massachusetts, a very small percentage of people actually paid the penalty. it was under 2% of the people. part of the reason was we will

make insurance more affordable, it was a good deal, using the example of $17,000, one percent of your income is $70 -- $170. if you get insurance for $15 a month, that is a pretty good deal. there are also exceptions -- if you make under poverty level, you are also not subject to the penalty. in massachusetts, very small numbers of people paid the penalty. shall have you considered taking your group to the exchanges -- host: have you considered taking your group to the exchanges? guest: we have had conversations about it. what is most attractive about the exchanges to young people is the choice -- you have more choice, and portability -- the idea that i decided to leave jobs, go somewhere else, i will be able to stay on my same

insurance plan. there are things about it that are very attractive. host: the next call for aaron smith of the young invincibles comes from richard in grandview, missouri, democrats line. theer: i want to mention theker program, where government by autos automobiles, and everybody -- but those automobiles, and anybody had, but it blew over. the insurance companies. i am so happy that young men like yourself will not have to carry the baggage of all of the stuff that ted cruz and the tea party are bringing up. host: any comments for him, mr. smith? isst: one point that he made it is right on. -- that is what -- that is right on is it is a bumpy ride.

there have been problems with , for example, in big change is difficult, even things that will ultimately benefit millions of people. i think we are seeing some of that. we are very hopeful that over time healthcare.gov is going to improve, and the system in ,eneral is going to get better but our goal, again, is to educate as many people as possible, let people know the facts and make their own decisions about getting health insurance. host: john on twitter says maybe the young should he yet and type -- supplements. they are getting hammered in the entitlement world. next call comes from oakland, maryland. joe. caller: i am from a small town in western maryland.

sounds like you were and entitled young man. your family paid for a lot of things. host: what does that have to do with anything? caller: you have to get out, and before you start spewing kool- aid to young people, you have to find out what it is to push a lawn mower as a youth instead of saying you need to give me a job, go look for a job, and invent the job. host: joe, what kind of work do you do? guest: i am self-employed. i have worked for the last 15 years on my own. the: have you looked at health-care exchanges, or how do you get your health care? pay -- caller: i pay $600 a month for health care, for an individual, one person.

looked at the exchanges to see if there is any benefit for you? caller: i do not want to be part of it. i look at a person like aaron smith who has been entitled, and he does not understand what it a struggle,through and to use your mind and your body to go out and work for a living. host: i think we got your point. aaron smith, what is your response? joe, i cant of all, almost guarantee that he went to healthcare.gov, he would find a plan cheaper than $600 a month. sense of the entitlement -- i agree -- i think young people do need to get out there and be entrepreneurial, and we cannot expect programs are going to sell things for us. -- solveready seeing

things for us. we are already seeing a lot of that were young people are responding to a tough economy by starting their own business or by going back to school, or being creative in an economy that is actually brutal for young people. that is what i had to do. that is what millions of young people have to do. of the things about this law should unlock the ability of young people to actually find health insurance. one of the big reasons young entrepreneurs say they have struggled is because of health insurance. it is so hard for a small business to get affordable insurance. should unlock the abilitysomebody like joe, who hs own business, to only have an option of $600 a month is crazy. the idea that i could go into a marketplace and find something that is utter and more afford -- ettore and more affordable, will hopefully allow young people to take their fate into their own hands and help themselves

economically succeed. host: wild and wonderful on twitter -- mr. smith, some of the detractors do have a point -- is it really affordable if it has to be subsidized for people to afford it? guest: yes. i think the price reflects a series of policies that have all come together, just like almost everything else -- the house you buy, the car you buy, is a reflection, in part, of policy. in this case, we have made the decision to help make health insurance more affordable. i think that is a good thing. most americans, when they go to healthcare.gov and see their options, they will agree it is a good thing. host: april is asking can you say the majority of young people are healthy young adults who choose to be uninsured? guest: no.

young people account for a little more than 40% of the uninsured population in the country. the polling we have seen is that the vast majority actually want to have health insurance. only a small percentage say i do not want to have health insurance, and they say the number one reason they cannot get health insurance is because of cost or they have a job that does not provide benefits. that is really what they are responding to -- we are responding to when we say the best majority of young people will benefit from this program. you have toays understand some of us do not want your help. we are self-sufficient. i encourage people to get the facts and make their own best decision about what they want to do. check out healthcare.gov, see what your options are, and if it is not right for you, do not purchase it. that is the way the system works. final tweet, tom says

choi -- you say choice is a good thing, but under the mandate you cannot choose not to get covered or a policy that the government does not approve of. guest: you could choose to pay the penalty, and you can see a variety of plants, plans with high deductibles, loaded up doubles -- that is more choice -- high deductibles, low deductibles, and that is more choice and we have ever seen before. the vast majority will have a more affordable option than they have ever had. this is an issue that disproportionately impacts young latinos. of africanhird americans are uninsured. really, the benefits here to cover this population for the first time in their young adult lives is pretty tremendous, and

we need to do everything we can to get the facts out to people. johnny is calling from 34-year- on our 18-to- old line. plan to get ont insurance, i have no insurance. i am responsible for myself. goi did not -- if i need to to a doctor, i will pay in cash. insurance that obama pushed through -- the people did not want it. they told the people of the united states, and more people it.not want it then wanted he pushed this through and forced it on the american people. let me say this, all of you medicaid, good

luck. right now, you cannot even get in to see one. there is a big line. what this is going to do -- these people that do not want to work, won't work, this is a way they can get drugs, pain pills. the next thing, i guess obama wants to do, is maybe get people like this that won't work, do not want to work, i guess what they will do now is pay for getting their yards mowed. do injohnny, what you kentucky? guest: i work at a sawmill. host: you do not have insurance? i do not anymore. i used to work at a coal mine. i put money away in case i need to go to a doctor.

obama lied when he said people could keep their health care. i know people that are getting letters every day, getting canceled. host: johnny, thank you. your reaction, aaron smith. -- kentuckyhings has decided to make their own state exchange, and it is going very well. thousands have signed up for health insurance in kentucky. i would say that having health insurance is a smart economic decision for young people, particularly if you think about one injury, one tripped in the emergency room easily costing you thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars. there are not many young people that could put enough in the bank to cover that cost. what ends up happening is the hospital or the state picks up that cost, or your family does. that is why young people say

they did not feel like an adult until they had health insurance because the idea that they are protecting themselves and paying premiums is, i think, a right of passage in some ways. i would also just added that i think millions of people will see this as a lifeline. they are getting health insurance for the same reasons we are talking about -- to protect themselves and their families --inst problems that happen to everyone. host: just a few minutes left with our guest, aaron smith of the young invincible's. pennsylvania. caller: i am questioning a couple of things. i notice you are an intern for chris van hollen. that speaks volumes. host: what do you mean?

use the synonym for progressive, chris van hollen is exceptionally liberal. he mentions foundations, being supported by foundations, and i am his website glancing the various organizations, and to use the synonym for progressive, they are all exceptionally liberal. then i go down to the organizations that support them. them are ultra-liberal. i look at the center for community change, at one point, morphedt called acorn into an most of their people went into the center for community change. of the people are involved there our former acorn people. host: all of that said, what is the point? he announced his views. caller: my point is the view he

exceptionallys one-sided as far as what obamacare will get. he said go to kentucky, it is working well. well, thousands are thai -- signed in -- signing up in kentucky, that a majority went into medicaid, and not into the so-called obamacare or the affordable care act. have yourink we point, enough to respond to. mr. smith, anything you want to say to that viewer? guest: i would just say that what i am presenting are the facts. those two healthcare.gov. ofk to people very critical the law, and they have never looked at the website, they have never, you know, done their --ework as far as these are the numbers are real -- 19

million uninsured young people. if you go to the website, these are the cost you are going to see. to the point about medicaid, that is one of the interesting things that is happening. a hugeaid, there is number of americans who would qualify for low cost or free health insurance under the medicaid expansion, and i think that is a great thing that hard working, working class people that have never had a chance for health insurance now can get covered. i think it is a shame that some states have decided not to expand the basic and if it. so cut -- benefit. of for the millions uninsured people that live in texas, you are basically out of luck. i think that is deeply unfair. we to continue to push to make a lot better. i think everyone would agree this could be made better and work better, but i should be the spirit that we should be tackling the problem.

the strike to move ahead. host: where did you grow up? westchester, yonkers, new york. you go up entitled and privileged, as some of our viewers have said? guest: it depends on who you asked. i went to public school. i went to school with people not gont to college, did to college. host: what did your parents do? -- guest: my parents government. my dad runs a small solar panel is this. -- business. my mom is an assemblywoman. host: that is how you got into politics. when she realized it?

guest: she was. where you it matter grew up? guest: the facts do not change, but i think it matters. matters where you grew up. the fact is that i majority of young people were doing really well under the old system, and working people and middle-class people were not doing as well. i think you need to have that experience. i am proud of the work that i have done to get to where i am, and i think it does give us a perspective on why we're doing this work. last call for a aaron smith comes from charles in raleigh, north carolina, democrat. thank you for having me on. i think this young man is doing a great job. pay no attention to the idiots out there who have not looked at

the affordable care act. thething i know is this is president's signature, and a lot of people do not like it, especially republicans, because they know if this thing takes hold and gets going like it is supposed to, it will set the ground for them to be a failure for a long time. insurance that i had before i became disabled, the cap changing every year -- it kept changing every year. able do not understand their insurance until they have to use out that it is not enough. paying $1000 a day to stay in the hospital, and it cost a hospital three times that much, they do not know that until they get really sick. you are doing a good job. keep it up or no matter what those idiots say, they have not

read the website. they have not tried it, they do not care about trying it. host: charles, how do you get your insurance? caller: i am disabled. i get medicare. host: thank you, sarah. any last words for him, mr. smith? the support.eciate everyone should get the facts and make your own decisions. we can have an honest debate about how to improve things, and what is in the law and what is not. go two healthcare.gov, find out your options, how much health care is going to cost, keep the conversation going, and hopefully these 50 million uninsured americans out there will get coverage for the first time ever. is cofoundermith of young invincibles. thank you for being on "washington journal." coming up next, representative jeff denham, a republican from california.

immigration is the topic. we will return shortly. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪ for nsais a tough time where everybody says what are you doing or why are you doing it. here is what we do. when we get together we do not -- well, a be a couple of times say it, but we actually is much more important for this country that we defend this nation and take the beatings than it is to give up a program that would result in this nation being attacked. we would rather be here in front of you today telling you why we defended these programs than having given them up and having our nation or our allies be attacked and people killed.

>> this weekend on c-span, intelligence officials defend the nsa surveillance program at e-house intelligence hearing, saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern. your calls and .omments for kitty kelly that is at noon. span3'san third -- c- "american history tv" eyewitness accounts numbering john f. kennedy assassination. when the super airport in chantilly, virginia died, and the president said it would be named douglas -- dulles airport. there was pushed back, but finally the decision was made to

name it after dulles. you can see the film clip of kennedy opening the airport, which eisenhower there, and he pulls back the curtain, and there is a bust of dulles, which stands in the middle of the airport. i went to see it, and i could not find it. guards, andsecurity nobody had ever even heard of it. long process, and finally i was able to discover that it had been taken away from its place in the middle of the airport, and it is now in a closed conference room opposite baggage claim number three. i find this a wonderful metaphor for how the dulles brothers, who at one time exercised or the shattering power and were able to make and break government, have been effectively forgotten

and airbrushed out of history. john heading state, and brothersia, the dulles ran covert operations during the cold war. find out how the ramifications can be felt 60 years later with stephen kinzer sunday at 8:00 p.m. on c-span's "q&a." >> "washington journal" continues. host: welcome back. we are joined by california representative jeff denham. us the view on immigration in the house. guest: there is no fiscal cliff, note that dealing -- that ceiling deadline, there is no date, so the job is to get the country focused on this, get the

house members focused on this, and we are doing it with a new bill that i have co-authored an offered amendments on to make it bipartisan. host: does congress need that kind of pressure -- pressure -- will be seen immigration vote before the end of the calendar year? guest: i am confident we will. leadership has made a commitment that will have a full debate and a full vote. our challenge is we have had so many issues with syria and the physical shutdown that we are running out of time. what we are trying to do is make sure that not only house leadership knows how many members are motivated on this issue, but engage the entire public across the nation. this is a huge issue, and now we have something out there -- actually, several bills out there, the one in particular that can show what we are for. it is one thing to talk about how many democrats will reap -- support something, or how many

publicans will support of pathway, but until you have a bill and collect call waters, that makes it a -- co-authors, that makes it a challenge. host: you signed on to a largely democratically led bill that would include a pathway to citizenship. guest: this is something i have worked on for years. when the senate bill came out, the house --y be beat the house. when it came out, i said the issue was the security issue. democrats and republicans have said that was a flawed issue. the republicans had a good border security package that passed out of committee unanimously to run bipartisan, and it has been added to this bill. we addressed order security, internal security, a guest worker program, as well as a path to earned citizenship.

host: talking about border security, "the new york times" had a rundown of these issues with that house homeland security proposal, is that enough for you, or would you like to see further action on border security taken? guest: there will be room for amendments as we move forward. there are a number of members we are continuing to talk to and we are saying if you have an issue, tell us what it is, we will amend the bill, and make sure we have a good, working product. a perfect example is the in list act, which would allow dreamers to serve in the military. when that openness and bipartisan support, the willing to actually change a bill, it is

not only rare, but refreshing in this circumstance. changes inwill see some circumstances, but the house bill is so much superior to what the language is in the final days of the senate bill -- just throwing millions of dollars, saying we will build a longer fence, my friends in minnesota like to think we have a border on their state as well. maritime border, what we need is measures and metrics to make sure we have fixed the border, tighten things down to the point where it is reviewable by a third party, and then all of the other immigration pieces go into effect. host: we are talking with congressman jeff denham of california. let's take some of your calls.

if you are an undocumented immigrant and would like to call him, the number is 202-585-388 three. congressman, you expressed optimism that we would see a vote on immigration reform this year. the gang of eight fall apart, a lot of obstacles to that. to seeyou overcome that a vote that would pass and satisfy both republicans and democrats in the house and senate? guest: we had a game in the house that had been working on it, and the gang of eight has been a much disbanded. we have in this bill that is getting bipartisan support, with republicans and democrats. our goal is to have a full debate on this bill and every other immigration bill as well. we need to get this fixed. what do we take up a piecemeal

approach, or a apprehensive bill, the point is we have a full debate on every issue. just doing one aspect of immigration just kicks the can further down the road for another decade or administration. your last weekend, colleague tom cole spoke to bloomberg tv. no to the chance of passing in the next week. guest: i think different people in different states have different opinions. i do not think he was looking at me signing the bill. i think there'll be many more republicans coming on over the weekend and into next week. we have movement on both sides of the aisle. now we also have the american public getting more and more engaged. the faith-based community was here this week. the business community was here.

a lot of farmers came to the capital. i would expect this district od next week, you will hear from constituents across the nation. i remember will hear how important this issue is and will do us a chance to focus when we get back, but the real question is when do we get to 218, and if we can do that quickly, the house will be stressed to bring immigration to the floor. a show laronda -- host: laronda in connecticut is on our line for democrats. go ahead. the safety of americans is a job you seem to take seriously, and if that is true, how can you ignore the architects and engineers that that there is an how building on

seven fell on 9/11. i have a question about building seven. host: would you care to respond? guest: building seven? host: she had a question about 9/11. guest: from one standpoint? host: she had a question about a building. guest: i will answer the question off-line. host: jim. michigan. our line for republicans. caller: good morning. from anyone heard what is wrong with the old immigration law, and i do not care what kind of a new law you get in there, if the white house does not enforce it, it is not going to go anywhere, so make it into teachable if it is not impeachable if it is

not enforced by the white house. believe this system is broken and that is why we have 11.5 million people here today. it is a multigenerational problem that continues to grow. right now, doing nothing is amnesty. we have to come to a realistic solution. that may touch on one more thing -- this republican billion the house that has been added to this bipartisan bill on border security actually has all of those measures in place. in the senate, we left it up to at the time, janet napolitano, the president to decide when the border was secure. now we take it to a third party, and it has to be certified before the other immigration pieces go into effect. order security is number one. that is our top priority. both parties understand.

we cannot shut down the border and build a bigger fence and assume we solve all the problems with immigration. pikesville,in maryland, on our line for independents. for taking myyou call. i wonder whether or not, with the affordable health bill be discussed, and the undocumented immigrants, could we not building mexican government for the health care that is delivered in our clinics and emergency rooms? rich mexicansare -- and carlos slim helu and oh, and we understand the mexican government is imposing a junk food tax to get money to finance health care. with onehis would help of the components because there is no reason for us to take care of all of their undocumented immigrants, when you have such rich money from guys like carlos slim.

why can't the mexicans have a health card where we could bill or not bill, take their names, and billy mexican government -- bill the mexican government? thank you for your time. guest: thank you. in this piece, this new have toion plan, you have been in the country before 2011, and we are guaranteeing that you have to have employment. there are no subsidies for undocumented immigrants. i think there are a lot of safeguards in here that address those issues. one of the big difference is that we have not seen over the last 30 years is that mexico is actually building a pretty good middle-class. they are growing a lot of their businesses. a lot of our businesses have

moved down there, including agriculture companies. we are now in the process of competing more and more with mexico. that is one of the things that will play into this whole immigration debate as we move forward. host: congressman, on twitter, we have a comment from twitter that says just enforced laws on immigration, jail ceos who hire them. it is a common refrain, enforce the laws we already have. what is your response to them? guest: our laws are broken. i own my own business, but it is illegal to question the documents that are put forward to me. we have problems with documents. we need an internal security system. we need to make sure we secure our borders -- top priority. thendly, we need to have internal verification to make sure that americans have the jobs first, and then verify who else is on their, and having

background checks as well. it is all part of the process. host: talking with coppersmith guest: let me just add one thing, i get the argument, why can we not just enforced the laws that are here, why can we not just deport them? we are talking about the whole state of ohio. to in --s a plan deport the entire state of ohio. that is how large the situation is. it has been broken for over 30 years. it is multigenerational, and if we do not get a hold of it, we'll have two tiers of citizens like other countries do that do not work really well. host: your congressional district is 40% latino or hispanic. i'll rethink your views are different -- how do you think your views are different from some of your colleagues?

of congress are members of their community. i see it in our schools, our churches and, and agriculture. way aroundall the from all aspects. it affects everyone in my district. whether you are on the left or the right, conservative, getral, everybody needs to this fixed. host: more of your calls next. alex in san francisco on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. i had a quick question for you -- if you are still skeptical that climate change is actually happening, and if you still skeptical that it is man-made? guest: i am one of those guys working to improve our environment, i have done that locally and in my own community.

i will support laws that allow us to do that. we can have a debate on the severity. my concern is a can trigger other issues, so i want to make --e we are defining series theories, that they do not affect how we put laws in. let's all agree we have too much air pollution coming in from the bay area into my district, and figure out how we can solve that in the central valley thomas a let's all that -- valley, a let's solve it in your area. there are things he can do. we all agree we can improve our climate, our community. i am all for it. host: let's go to sam in anchorage, alaska. he is a democrat on our line for undocumented immigrants. caller: of.

-- hello. for 18 years.ere my wife is a citizen, and my kids are citizens, and if i go back to my country, i cannot come back for 10 years. i am stuck here. i am wondering when you will bring the immigration bill on the floor in the house. i know three republicans are supporting the democrats built. is there any hope you bring the immigration bill on the floor this year? this is my question. guest: i have a lot of hope. we have to get it done this year. my concern is we will have a lot of big issues next year as well as another election. time is of the essence. over the next three weeks, not only will he get more support on all of the immigration bills, but hopefully we will get to the floor debate right after that. we have to get the american

public focused on this as well, and really talk about the facts of this bill, the facts of border security, and talk about the register provisional status that our immigrants would be them that would just allow -- if you need to go to a funeral in another country, or a wedding -- we want to make sure that families are able to be with other family members, and we want to keep families together. "political"port in -- "republican leadership does not see do you think that the brinkmanship going on in congress, how will that impact? guest: there is a lot of concern. we came out of the continuing resolution and financial debate that we had. with the real issues

president. we should take him out of the picture. we have bills in the house. we should conference with the senate and get the best products for the american people. i believe that by putting measures and metrics and to this the president and the administration did not certify when the border is secure. we have an independent party that does that. we do not want to leave it up to this president or the next --sident because all of the both republicans and democrats have been challenged with improving immigration, and both now it can be blamed and is time to see what both parties can come up for a solution. there is a great opportunity to have people come together on this bill, and show leadership what we are for, and how to get .o 218

there are other bills that i co- authored, but this deals with all aspects. if we have a debate on a piecemeal approach, i will support that as well. take more of your calls with erik in new jersey on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i wanted to say that my main problem with the immigration no realthat there is deterrent, no real consequence of coming into this country illegally. are put out of the country, and the next thing they do is come right back in. really, the bill should have some teeth in it, such as one- year mandatory incarceration for anyone that is caught here illegally.

teethk if there were some to the bill, 90% of the illegal immigrants would leave here voluntarily. guest: first of all, i do believe that some will leave voluntarily. some will file for provisional status so that they can come back and see their family members, but i think a lot of our immigrants will want to go back home. my father-in-law is a perfect example. he did not take advantage of the 1986 law. he did not want to become a citizen as he had property in mexico, and he wanted to go back and forth. he decided on his own later that he wanted to become a citizen, and it was a proud moment to work through that with him. there are provisions in here, teeth to make sure we do not repeat the same mistakes of the past. this is 2011 and prior that you had to be here. if you have come in after that,

you will not be able to file for ei-verify, not be able to get a job. if you get deported and if somebody came and after 2011 and they are deported, they cannot file for that provisional status or the legal permanent status are ever become a citizen after that. we are putting teeth in this and looking for more ideas. er inl next talk to javi new rochelle, new york. on our line for immigrants. taking myanks for call. guest: thanks for joining us this morning. i want to tell you that we don't have no leaders now, mexico or spanish.

out like te kick us d cruz and all those people. please advocate for the spanish people or anyone -- we are good people over here. some people don't like latinos. this will clear everything up. whoever is able to get it will get it and whoever cannot will go home. whoever stays here will work very freely and have all the documents you have like a license and anything you want to give it. -- talk toeg you andver you have to call let's take the leadership route.

for us ando do this thank you very much for taking my call. i pray for you every day. guest: thank you. and prayprayers coming for every member of congress because we need the help here. we are going to get this done. we have to get this done. i think it is something that will contribute to the greatness of america. many members are not talking about this but what this does to our economic debate -- we just got done with the government shutdown and we are going back into that same type of scenario in january and february. this is part of the solution. if you don't like the $17 trillion going to $18 trillion of debt, here is $1 trillion of it right here. we will say $175 billion over the first decade and almost $800 billion over the second decade. here's an opportunity to add to our fiscal debate as well as give people -- get people back to work and save social security and medicaid in the process.

there is a whole economic debate shows notn have that only that we will improve our economy but we can solve our debt crisis and some of the other crisis as we have in the process. wayne in elgo to dorado, arkansas, on our live for republicans. caller: how do you do, sir? i am returning to this subject would seems to be a recurring irritant to the legislative bodies. sir, is whyto you, have we not recommenced our restarted or reused the old green card, i believe it they system where these people were given the privilege of coming to the united states and working and whether jobs were done, they went home and -- on an orderly basis to their families. after these draconian laws were passed which with drew -- which

with through this program, if they came across the border, they knew they could not go home because they would have to jump the border again. i have never understood why an order late message like the h2 system was rigged -- was discarded and the presence of something that truly work very well. perhaps you can answer that question for me. guest: absolutely, it's a very important issue for me and my community and our agriculture areas. we actually have that in this bill. of thistworker piece allows people to come in and have a job and verify it with their employer and when that season is over, they go back home. we do have that process. it is similar to the h2a. and there are other bills that deal with this expansion and will have a debate on all those different ideas and bills on guest worker programs as well as h2a in the next few weeks.

thank you. host: let's go to curtis in seattle, washington, our line for independents. caller: good morning c-span and congressman. i personally believe that the bill that has passed the senate that is currently up for a vote or potential vote in the house, it is a backdoor amnesty. we heard the same talking points in 1986 and many of the provisions in this bill like more border security -- how come these things are not being done right now? we have an unemployment rate of 7.2%. i support but i disagree on this issue and he wants to make it easier for individuals to come here -- that have come here illegally or overstayed their visa to take jobs that americans truly will do. howuestion to you is -- come many of these things that are in this bill are not being done right now?

first of all, we continued to spend more and more on border security. thanks in -- things have been .mproved there still are gaps. with much tighter border security that we have today, you still see immigrants finding other ways. as long as we have jobs here, people will take a boat and come across our maritime border or fly over to canada and come across the south border. noteed to make sure that we only address border security but also our internal security. the biggest problem with the senate bill is that it was much like 1986 where did not errant tee that we were going to do the border security -- that it did not guarantee that we were going to do border security first. it does do that and i assume

things will be better along the border with the senate bill. i don't want to leave it up to any president, republican or democrat, no administration, to certify where the border is in my state or any other state. i want to make sure that we, as members of congress, are held accountable and that we have an independent body that uses measurements and metrics to verify not only that it is done but using those same measurements and metrics before we implement any other piece of immigration. last time we went backwards. last time we did very little border security and did all of the other immigration -- pieces in 1986. we have to make sure that we have a guarantee for the american people that our borders are secure first and we address all the other aspects of immigration as well. housethe chairman of the homeland security committee said earlier this week that he is not --ng to go down

that's obviously not your position. guest: in this bill, we obviously have his bill in the overall bill. we agree on the border security measures. we agree that has to be implemented first. we are just saying we will not ignore all the other things. doing nothing is amnesty. we have 11.5 million people are here today so even if we secure the border, we still have a situation that we have to resolve that affects every area of our unity. pathway isgal something that is important. just as important is our background checks. if you are breaking the law or preying on the committee or not a good active member of society

or not adding to the greatness of america, and we want to out of the country and we will be able to identify those people and create safer communities. that's why we have had a look safety on board on this bill and have them lobbying the capital. they are stuck in a situation where they cannot -- follow through on current law. it creates big challenges across every community across the entire state. we to give them leverage do make our communities safer. host: we will take more of your calls with reggie in san francisco, on our line for democrats. caller: good morning, c-span. congressman athe particular question -- what type of farm does he have? an almond ranch. i grow almonds in the central valley. caller: what workers do you use? guest: we are mechanized.

equipment and we is very little labor. caller: you need no manual labor with your farm? guest: we use some but mostly family members. you are trying to get made. -- get me. we verify. the company that we are using -- we only have a couple of people on our ranch because we are mechanized. unlike a lot of my friends who crops.w we have a huge amount of undocumented workers in their fields and they know it. working forebody you for 10 or 20 years and you have a good idea of their family and their members and how they are reporting their taxes. stuck not being able to do anything. the system is breaking down and not allowing them to fix the

situation. host: thank you for that call. let's go to carlos and lakeville, minnesota, on our line for undocumented immigrants. caller: good morning, you all. ok, i am from a third world country. country andis recognized that we are here and we break the law. aboutstion anyhow is those radio talk shows. even if something passes or comes to the house, i would like , liker your point of view rush limbo or laura ingram, those talk shows that looks like the point of view of

the american people. i will hang up and listen to your comment. thank you and have a good day. guest: thank you. certainly, there are talk shows on both the left and the right. they are certainly trying to raise their ratings and they are very aggressive in how they portray a lot of these bills. now we have a ill that is very factual. i think it is important as we move forward with this solid piece of legislation. this is not new and has been in print for one year. they have a responsibility to report on the facts. they don't have to like them. there are things they can certainly pick apart. but we have to really talk about the facts of this bill. i am making it my mission to go on as many shows on the left and the right and that in the middle. i want to talk to everybody because we take this to the american public. we need to let them know what

exactly is in this bill so they can go back to their member of findess and push them to an overall immigration solution. this bill will continue to be changed. there will be other amendments taken to this. i'm asking my republican colleagues that if there is something you don't like in this bill, let's talk about it. tell me what needs to be changed and let's look at the documentation and let's add amendments to just saying no is not part of the solution. if both parties can realize that there is a huge problem here, then we should all agree on coming to a solution. just doing the border ignores the 11.5 million that are here. it ignores our economy. it ignores the fact that we are unable to keep competitive on the global market with agriculture or the high-tech industry where a lot of our jobs are moving to other countries right now. we have to do something and i want to see more members that are willing to step out on this issue on both sides of the aisle and say that we are a elected be

leaders so let's lead. int: let's go to jimj winston, south carolina on her line for republicans. caller: good morning, a couple of things -- readhing i have heard and is about getting the american people on board. this is one of two major issues that people are on board about. i heard one gentleman call him who said unemployment was like 7.6 and that's a lie. not being politically correct. that's a terrible word. if you count the people who have given up on work and are also on unemployment, our unemployment is probably -- this is probably a guest omission -- doubleday 15% and we are talking about making it legal which is really what we are doing because calling an individual undocumented is like calling a drug kingpin and nonlicensed pharmacist.

that's about the same thing. i believe this bill is like most bills for washington area it's about votes. this is not about fixing america. everybody in washington took an oath. i did when i went in the military and my oath is never expired. we promised to take care of america first. guest: absolutely, i took an oath to the constitution. not only when i was sworn into the nation's capital but i did what i was 17 years old, willing to put my life down for my country. caller: good for you. guest: i will uphold the constitution on this. that's vitally important but i'm asking people to actually not listen to the rhetoric and look at the bill. a three pagegether talking point on the specifics of the hill and i would be happy to e-mail you all 1100 pages but they have been out there in different segments and then an overall comprehensive bill for quite some time now.

this guarantees americans first. this guarantees that we have an system in our country and if they cannot pass a background check, we now have the ability to send them back to whatever country. if they are breaking the laws of our country, they cannot stay. i think there are some things in here that are very conservative but i'm not just going to ignore the 11.5 million here -- people here today. that's wherety and we need real leadership. ignoring this problem takes it down the road further and further. it will affect our health care and their schools and will affect all aspects of our community if we do nothing. the time is now to get it done. we are having a full debate and we have some good legislation to be able to get behind. at the beginning of this show -- many people have said this is a democrat bill and we are trying to get republicans to sign on.

i would strongly, strongly disagree with that. adding the border security peace in the house that was designed by republicans is a very conservative piece of legislation. my friends on the left would say that they have on too far to the right on this because we have made sure that you have to file with e-verify and have a background check to get through this. up, everybodygn has to sign up or they will not be eligible in the future. the first six years, you pay a fee and your back taxes. back taxes and fees will help solve this huge problem we are in. you have to pass a background check and speak english and that's a provisional status. after six years, you get reawarded for doing it all over again. you pay your fees, you pay taxes, they run another

background check and make sure you have not broken any laws and then you get another six years. you go to the back of the line. in 10-12 years before you can file for legal permanent residents. then two years after that is when you can file the on the green card and gain citizenship. the quickest pathway is 13 years. unless you look at the amendment i have added which is the and list act, we have had immigrants serving in our military through the history of our great nation. every single war, every battle we have had, we have invited immigrants. in world war ii, we used to go over to europe and asked europeans to sign up in the american army. i served with a lot of filipinos the gain citizenship by get -- by serving in the military. if you want to show your patriotism, sign up for the military and be willing to put your life on the line and absolutely you will earn your citizenship.

obviously, i am passionate about this and there are some very strong things in here that make this a very strong american bill. it will add to the greatness of america and bring people into our community. we are a nation of immigrants and this allows us to continue to do that. just having people in the shadows and breaking up families me,ot only un-american, for i believe in conservative values. i want to keep families together and i believe in family values. that's all part of this bill. host: last call in this segment on our line for democrats, undocumented immigrants. caller: good morning. thank you so much, congressman. we really appreciate it. somebodyad we have like you coming from the right and taking leadership on

immigration reform. however, i don't want to think it's because of your background and the family industry. i want to believe that it is your contribution to the immigrant community and her understanding of the nature of immigration as a whole. you don't really appreciate what immigration is on till you have your family in that [no audio] [inaudible] me, i willy like

find another way like go back to my country or do something else, find another way out. my children to put in that situation, leaving them without any leadership and no father and leaving them behind. it's a very, difficult situation to get out of because of my children. once again, i appreciate your efforts on immigration reform. believe that everyone who has and people understand that this is a complex situation .nd real people are involved thank you very much. i think it was more of a

statement. i agree we have big challenges. youfeel it first hand when see families broken up in your own community. that i the challenge think gets overlooked at times is all the dreamers who have come here through no fault of their own. , in thenever held history of our country, we have never held kids responsible for the decisions of their parents. one of the debates we have across the street all the time is when we start talking about these issues, somebody was brought here when they were two or three, what do you do now, 10 or 20 years later? if you want to deport them, where will you deport them to? what country would take them back? what birth certificate would they have to prove their citizenship there it it comes into complex issues which is why we are having more agreements between republicans and democrats on how you have a real

resolution for dreamers themselves. host: we will leave it there but thank you for joining us. guest: my pleasure, thanks for having made. host: we will open up the phone lies but first we will take a break. ♪ >> now the warm sun on the kindly rain have wrought the crap to maturity. they are beginning to bend as a sign of rightness that drives into this field of golden grain and takes a few samples for testing. it crushes the heads between its hands on till the chaff and grain are separated. >> every culture was in some ways a devil's bargain. we began by domesticating wheat and that's why we talk about it. the fact is, we domesticated us

in some ways and gave up the freedom to wander and hunt and gather as we had done for 50,000 years. thanmay be better or worse agriculture in some ways but that is a value judgment but evolution made us that way. we surrendered the conditions we evolved under. still argue a lot about how i'll go culture happens. -- about how al gore culture happens. aboutgument is that -- how agriculture happens. the argument is that we ran out of steam. that's not the way it happened probably but that is one story. another store is that we did disturbances by living together, the disturbance of the soil of people compacting the soil and villages and allowed weeds to grow when we started eating those weeds which was grass. once that happens and people

started raising grain, we became highly dependent on that grain and highly dependent on city living. purdue soon, we were domesticated just like our livestock in some places. >> spend this weekend imploring the montana state capitol as booktv and american history tv look at the history and literary life of helena. >> this painting was originally was my grandmother's official white house portrait. the 1960s, lady bird johnson went looking for portraits of first ladies to hang and re-hang in the white house. she thought that was important and looked high and low and could not find my grandmother's official portrait. she called my grandmother and said, mrs. truman, do you know where that painting is? my grandmother said it is on my

wall. mrs. johnson said you really should not have that. it belongs in the white house. my grandmother said no. that's my painting and is on my wall and that's where it will stay. mrs. johnson tried a couple of more times and eventually she gave up. >> watch our program on first lady bess truman on www.c- span.org/first ladies or see it saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. we continue our series live monday as we look at first lady mamie eisenhower. journal" continues -- host: welcome back. let's go to some of the headlines this week.

in this morning's "washington times" --

we are taking your calls on the numbers are on your screen -- thes look at more of headlines, this morning's "financial times" --

let's take some of your call starting with kathy in duluth, georgia, on our line for independents. caller: i was calling about the immigration, actually. say is that like to instead of passing legislation, more legislation, why not pass legislation that what we have be and acted. as -- and acted and written and take away the power of administrations to only enforce laws that they like and they have to enforce all laws equally and cannot make changes to them? host: thank you so much. of will talk withann garon "the washington post" guest: happy to be with you. host: tell us what the goal of

this visit is. guest: from the iraqi perspective, the goal is to get more military hardware and other associated u.s. help for the fight against a really alarming spike of terrorist driven violence inside iraq and the argument that the president, -- the prime minister nouri l threatis that this is a that affects not only iraq but syria and u.s. interests elsewhere in the region and beyond. become aally transnational threat. this is an organization that grew out of the al qaeda in iraq branch of al qaeda and now calls itself variously al qaeda in the or in iraq and syria.

by its own marker, is calling itself something lent -- something larger than iraq. the goal from the u.s. side is to genuinely help al maliki. the u.s. agrees this is a much larger threat than it was six months ago. it is worthy of more u.s. support. the challenge is convincing congress to go along with the because of the long list of complaints that congress and the administration have with the way nouri al-maliki has governed. how great is the al qaeda influence right now in iraq? guest: political influence is not great at all but it has -- researched in most spectacular fashion over the last six months. as recently as a year ago, al qaeda in a rack was not dead. it was not a daily presence.

andcan see a bombing here there but it was not something that nouri al-maliki worried about. it was not something the u.s. took as a major threat either to his governance or to u.s. interests. that has changed. one of the ways it has changed is the very effective outside influence that that organization has been able to garner from foreign fighters. the work of some foreign advisers who were able to help al qaeda in iraq stage this amazing jailbreak last summer in which the high leadership of al qaeda in iraq that had been rolled up over the past three or four years was picked up -- was released and they are out and running the show again. host: we will take a listen to

some of what the prime minister said yesterday here in washington. [video clip] we are talking with the americans and telling them we need to benefit from their experience from the intelligence information and from training for those who are targeting al developed, scientific way. we are ready to give blood to follow the terrorists which allows its friends to benefit from experience and training. weapons that are necessary specifically for counterterrorism. counterterrorism has specific needs with weapons. or longer-bout tanks range missiles or artillery or m-16s. it has specific weapon i. -- weaponry. aside from mobilizing the people and national union, we need also intelligence

information that will happen to target the strongholds and the cells and the groups of terrorists. host: your thoughts on those words? guest: that is a polite and elliptical way of saying give me the apache helicopters that i really want and the administration has told me privately that i can have. helicopters are the first order of business for al-maliki during this. it is an old technology but it is an effective one against small-group terrorism. it is one of the armies most effective counterterrorism weapons. choice -- burden of it was the bird of choice in afghanistan, often used to escort u.s. patrols because the insurgents know that they are

outgunned by it. it has precision hellfire and operates in many ways like a drone and can target one car, one militant, one guy with an rpg. it has very powerful cameras. all of those capabilities make it something that many in congress have asked why we would give this to the iraqis. has shown in the past, the prime minister, that he will go after city militias. he will further his own shiite powerbase. why would we reward him a few months ahead of what is expected to be his running in april for a third presidential term when he has not fulfilled the promises he made two years ago, not long after he won his last one.

that's really what this is about. l caal-maliki with white thosesupport overcome qualms in congress i get first the apaches and beyond that, some wider intelligence and other counterterror capabilities shared by the u.s. freed up from a reluctant congress. host: earlier this week, six senators wrote to barack obama and a letter urging him to formulate a comprehensive political and security strategy that can help stabilize the country and enable iraq to realize its potential. take us through what their concerns are and what congress wants to see on the issue of iraq from the white house? guest: that was a pretty remarkable letter. by probably the

most influential republican and a couple of democratic leaders on foreign policy in the senate. it was a real warning shot. it was a letter to obama but it was really a broadside against and it said he is doing a of things wrong and has not fulfilled his promises and his governing -- and he is governing as a sectarian warlord and the u.s. is not holding him to account for it. he is allowing too much influence by iran which is also shiite which is the same as his government. they called that a malign influence which is one of the stronger terms applied recently.

concerns really are, as i laid out in the context of the apaches, that since 2011, al- maliki has promised a number of times to have an inclusive power-sharing government. one was nominally set up. by the account of john mccain and others who wrote that has set abouti to dismantle that government or undermine it. he is accompanied this trip by a sunni defense minister and a ministero foreign representing other blocs. is that that is just for show and that he really

intends to continue to govern from a shiite-first perspective and so far, he has been able to essentially use u.s. resources and u.s. cover to help do that. host: we have been talking with ann gearon of "the washington post." we will take more of your calls on this week's top stories. let's go to liz in phoenix, arizona, our line for democrats. are you with us? it looks like we don't have her. in sonoma, carol california, on our line for republicans. caller: good morning. i have a comment on immigration reform. i have watched c-span for many years now. i have never heard anyone compare other immigrant groups to the mexican-american group.

that, in theto say case of italian-americans, they came in legally, some of them waited up to 15 years before they could come in legally. often, the old people and the country died and could not come with the children and grandchildren. in they never said let me and i will be here illegally and then validate my stay. just let me stay while i am a legal. no one ever compares those two groups. i think if you allow illegals to law, we are breaking the and it is a nation of laws. that's wrong. i say go back to the country of

, south america, mexico, whatever, and apply to come in legally. give the reason for coming to skills,that you have skills that are needed here. i think that is fair. it's too bad that families get broken up. but that's the price you pay when you break the law. i really am very -- firm about that. i would just like people to consider other immigrant groups that went through terrible hardships and did not put this burden on america. host: thank you so much for your call. we just had a segment on immigration so we appreciate your call. let's go to san antonio on our line for independents. caller: i would like to address the same issue but i would

prefer not using the term immigrant. i would use the term and dated. i think the -- i would use the term innovators. people need to understand the history and that christopher columbus, jamestown, george washington did not have papers. they did not ask permission to come here. they invaded. it displaced the native people that were here and brought in africans who also did not have papers. if we are talking about going back to the country of origin like that woman did before, how would she like to have to go back to europe and get papers to re-invade america? think about your history. this is not a country of immigrants. this is a country of indicators and conquerors. thank you. host: thank you so much. another story in today's "usa today" --

lots of important stories-we have a tweet on the same issue. let's take more of your calls and talk with melvin about his top story of the week from fort lauderdale, florida, on our line for democrats. caller: i just want to address a couple of issues, number one dealing with healthcare. i would like for you as the host and some of the other people dealing with the healthcare issue and and people calling in to indicate that this saving of

money to pay for the doctors and those who don't need healthcare. doctors do not have insurance? what will happen when they need lab tests? they might have a lab test for particular particular thing and i have to get an examination. ask how much money they are saving for medication. calling aboutep justebt, i wish you would pull up the debt by presidential administration on the website. they have it up there every once in a while so you can actually see what the debt was and who accumulated the massive debts by their particular administration. i think it would answer a lot of questions. $5se people are talking trillion with obama is ridiculous.

i wish you would do that, thank you. host: thank you for the call. he brought up health care select listen to kathleen sibelius testifying on capitol hill earlier this week. [video clip] >> in these early weeks, access been athcare.gov has miserably frustrating express for many americans including many who avoided years, in some cases their entire lives, for the security of health insurance. i am as frustrated and angry as anyone with the flawed launch of healthcare.gov. to thesey directly americans-you deserve better. i apologize. i am accountable to you for fixing these problems and i am committed to earning your confidence back by fixing the site. we are working day and night and will continue until it's fixed. host: let's take more of your calls, steve in scottsdale,

arizona, republican line. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call. i wanted to say something about the health care rollout. maybe what they should do is make it more simplified. these websites are so complicated. they put so much stuff on their and it takes forever to download. if they made it a simple website -- if they made it simpler just like the tax code was complicated -- same thing. things easierke policy wherene you put your social security number in common name, address and then you pick -- you only get one, you pick it and it's or $200 per month or whatever they figure the cost will be and then it would work or it then everybody would have it and they would not have all these problems. host: thank you so much.

let's talk with dave in michigan on our line for independents. caller: hello? good morning. i'm calling about the nsa thing. you believe that what the united states is doing with the nsa, to spy on their own people is really wrong. they should be out there taking care of the terrorists and monitoring them. the only reason they want to monitor the people in the united states is because they have done so much wrong that now they have to worry about what the people of the united states will do. they don't want any roms like that. if they had done their jobs in the first place, they would not have to worry about these people. they --ld be taken of they should be taking care of the national threats. having to worry about what you put in an e-mail to somebody or what you talking about on the phone should not be.

this is america and the constitution granted as rice to do things on they want to take all these rights away. that's all i have to say. host: thank you so much for your call. we are continue to talk about the top stories with rodney from florida on our line for democrats. caller: i was going to talk that -- but this healthcare -- what's more important? is it the money that they print up her people's lives? money, it's just paper. if we are worried about this paper more than people's health who are dying, that seems to me to be a problem. i just cannot see it.

-f we were dealing with goals always have to do is keep renting up a per -- is keep printing a paper and make on why the debt is high and turn around and keep renting up paper. that's all i want to say. it's just paper to me. host: thank you so much for your call. this is a very dizzy week at that saw the first meeting of budget conference negotiators. let's listen to what lindsey graham had to say. [video clip] friends have tax reforms without raising any revenue. we can take the money we haven't change the tax rates on lower rates and create jobs like senator sanders wants and our democratic friends come over the next decade, increase taxes by $900 billion. over the next decade, the house republican bill reduces spending

by $4.6 trillion over the next decade, our democratic friends increase spending by $265 billion. two different views of where we want to go and how we create jobs. and what the proper sustainable role of the federal government is. let's pledged to do this, not shut the government down. i are on different planets but between now and january 13, i hope we can find a way to fund this government through september. that would be good for all of us. we are not going to be able to reconcile our differences and between now and september but we should be able to fund the government. host: that was the budget negotiaters. robert in fort lauderdale, florida, on our line for republicans. caller: good morning.

my grandfather came over from and he was sent back three times. he was in a wheelchair. finally, when the children who had come over earn some money, they saw a sign that he would never accept any charity or any funds from any government agency or any people. they did not come to be a burden to this country. they took their chances and worked and built a business. all of them lived off of that business well. i don't understand this thing about people walking into the country, have babies and stay. if you want to get them out, offer them $3000 for them to go home and if they stay, fine them . this thing about a free ride in america has long since been gone. i don't know where that started but they have to stop it. thank you very much. host: next caller is james in kingston, new hampshire, on our

line for independents. caller: good morning, i was glad i was able to get through. this is my opinion. thisnk the landscape of country is changing drastically. as far as healthcare, we have to follow the money. moneye will make a ton of on this healthcare whether it be pharmaceuticals, doctors or what have you. why can't we have the same insurance as our congressman? they are eating caviar and we are eating beans. as far as immigrants, what ♪ the democrats want the vote and the republicans want the cheap labor. would better straighten out this country soon because we will have two tiers of people and the country will split down the middle and we will create two different countries and it's sad. it's going to pieces. everyone i talk to feels the same way. we are becoming communist and that's not the way to be. have a great day. host: rob in phoenix, arizona,

on our line for democrats. caller: good morning, last night i watched a preview of a pbs documentary by the filmmakers about the so-called immigration issue and it's called " the state of arizona." it will air on january 27 on independent lens program. what i saw in the film, the documentary, a lot of people who are anti-immigrants are just boiling over with hostility and are very nostalgic for some sort of pass that will never come forth. pictures were shown of admiring john wayne and this kind of image -- host: what do you think congress

should do about immigration? caller: i think congress needs a reality check. they are trying to control nature. moving andof people trying to, again, find these so- called and solutions. that's what hitler did. wherets to label people they are in immigration status and people are moving here and that's the nature of people. i think congress is trying to turn this into a legislative solution. i think there is more things to get onto the future with as far as transportation and housing and cleaning up the cities we live in. i really don't find their of this labeled immigration reform -- one of the things and the film

-- i was watching it with a so- called immigrant advocate -- he pointed out the filmmakers that i produced this film over four or five years and nothing was said about the indigenous status of the people coming here. in other words, we are trying to control the borders to people who have lived in this continent who areore the people in congress live here. host: we will leave it there. thank you so much. we will next talk withjamie and manassas, virginia on our line with republicans. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. this is an observation. secretaryening to the kathleen sebelius and she seemed to be stumbling a lot on big points especially the testing on

the software they are trying to implement. it seems like there is a lot of problems with the software. it looks like a lot of it was not tested. as far as the universal health care, i have not been affected by it with my company but it focusedke everyone is on the functionality of the website instead of the impact it is having on people as far as increase premiums. it looks like either obama did not know or did not care when he went to implement this universal healthcare as far as what it will do to everybody as far is increased cost and as far as insurance companies making choices as far as covering people. that's all i have, have a good day.

host: thank you very much. let's call from kalamazoo, michigan, on our line for independents. caller: i think what they should do in february is -- host: are you still with us? caller: they should select all new congressman and get these guys that have been in their 20 or 30 years out. when the new blood in congress. i think february is what they should think of. host: we will leave it there. thank you all so much for joining us and we look forward to taking your calls again tomorrow on "washington journal." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

live on c-span this morning, we will bring you a discussion with the head of the international atomic energy will talk about his agency's monitoring of nuclear programs and promoting the peaceful use of atomic energy. that gets underway at 1130 a.m. eastern. president obama and the iraqi prime minister our meeting this afternoon after 2:00. the two leaders are expected to address security concerns within the country. sectarian violence is picked up since u.s. forces pulled out nearly two years ago. the wall street journal reports that iraq lames violence on civil war next door. is dominatedister y shiites but the sunnis complain about them.

here is more of what he had to say yesterday. [video clip] them a we do not know if it is a single religion or single border. they carry bad ideas instead of flowers. al qaeda is a dirty wind that wants to spread worldwide. flowers to to carry expand them at the international level. request. it is not only about iraq. it is about all of the countries in the world that are suffering from terrorism.